Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Gazpacho Soup Plus Some Variations

Cold gazpacho soup makes a light and refreshing lunch on these sultry summer days when you’re craving something healthy and don’t want to heat up your kitchen. If you’ve been reading My Carolina Kitchen for a while, you may remember the gazpacho soup that I prepared for a guest appearance on Lazaro Cooks a while back. I decided to do a re-run of it plus some variations because it’s one of our very favorite soups and it deserves its own place here at home in my stable of recipes.

Did you know tomatoes haven't always been in gazpacho soup? Gazpacho is an ancient soup, believed to have originated with the Arabs, and comprised of only bread, olive oil, water, and garlic. Later the Romans added vinegar. Even though Cortez brought the tomato to Spain in the 16th century, it wasn’t added to the recipe until the 1700s. At the time, the tomato was believed to be poisonous and consequently only grown as a decorative plant. A famine in Italy 200 years later caused starving peasants to eat the tomatoes with no ill effect and the rest, as they say, is history.

From time to time I’ve played around with the basic ingredients in gazpacho, used different vinegars - sherry, rice, balsamic, or combinations, purchased different colored bell peppers, substituted V-8 for the tomato juice, added a fresh jalapeno for heat, and used homemade croutons as a garnish.

I also happen to get bored easily and am always on the look-out for new twists on old favorites. I’ve seen three other gazpacho recipes that sound intriguing: one with pineapple as a base, one with watermelon, and one with mango, which I’ll show you below. But first, here’s a classic chunky gazpacho with a couple of different garnishes that’s our family favorite.

Place the tomatoes into a food processor and pulse until very coarsely chopped but not pureed. Remove from the bowl, and repeat with the pepper & cucumber.

In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, oil, and tomato juice. Add the cayenne, salt, pepper and chopped dill to the vinegar mixture. Add the chopped vegetables and minced onion and mix well. Chill and serve cold.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Stir well and chill. Serve cold. Garnish if desired with grilled wild-caught shrimp that have been seasoned before grilling with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and sweet smoked Spanish paprika, also known as Pimenton de la Vera.

The two variations below are also from Perfect Recipes for Having People Over by Pam Anderson

Pineapple Gazpacho

Substitute pineapple for the mango and pineapple juice for the orange juice in the Mango Gazpacho recipe above.

Watermelon Gazpacho

Substitute small diced seeded watermelon for the mangos and use a yellow bell pepper for the red one in the Mango Gazpacho recipe above.

Tasting note: Although the mango gazpacho was very refreshing and the multi-colors of the various ingredients looked spectacular in the bowl, the tomato based gazpacho will always be our favorite. In fact when I asked my husband the question I always ask when we try a new recipe, “Would you have this again?” he said no. When I asked why, his answer was, “I just don’t like it.” I’m curious. Have you ever made gazpacho with unusual ingredients and what did you think of the results?

Beautiful! Gazpacho is a favorite of mine. When I was expecting our first son, I'd see the doctor, get weighed and then take my lone self to lunch at Cafe Lautrec overlooking the cove in La Jolla. I had a bowl of gazpacho and a warm brownie a la mode to finish. Thanks for the memories and the recipes.

I like the additions of dill in one recipe, and orange juice in another. Those kinds of additions are the ones that intrigue guests. I just made a large batch of gazpacho last weekend - it was very simple and instead of including cucumber in the base, it was chopped as the garnish, which was fun.

I absolutely love gazpacho and learned to make it when I lived in Spain. My family loves it too, so I don't really get a chance to play with the flavors much--I think I'd get a public outcry if I did! :-)

What a rainbow of colors! Love that claw shot! Hot? What's that? I haven't seen sunshine in almost two weeks, where I work. I have to wait until I get home at 6pm to catch a small patch of blue sky. I'm hoping for an Indian Summer! These would be good in hot or cold weather.

Do you ever know your way around gazpacho. I will be making the mango and chunky one - definitely. And then play. Interesting history - I always associated it with tomatoes first and then variations. Kind of intrigued with the Arab origins (almost a panzanella salad soup) and the ingredients! Your helping to keep us cool!

Wow, great timing. I have an avalanche of tomatoes this year and my last post was seeking ideas for cherry and grape tomatoes. I have plum tomatoes too. I think I'm going to try the gazpacho with lump crab - that sounds delicious!!

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About Me

I'm a retired executive turned writer & food columist. Currently I write a food column, “From My Carolina Kitchen,” for my local newspaper.
I have entered three recipe contests and was a winner in each:
Won the state of Mississippi's Chicken Contest in 1993 and participated in the 40th annual National Chicken Contest, one of the "big three" national competitions. It is the oldest contest of its kind.
I wrote a food column for The Abaconian newspaper when my husband Meakin and I lived in the "Out-Islands" of the northern Bahamas in Abaco on the tiny tropical island of Lubbers Quarters. I am a member of North Carolina Writers Network.

Photography by Meakin Hoffer - Food Styling by Sam Hoffer

Living on Island time, Retirement in Abaco Spiced with Food, Friends & Rum, by Sam Hoffer

My upcoming memoir about following a dream and living on a tiny island in the Bahamas. Click on the picture of the palm tree to know more.

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